Highland basketball is among the elite men’s basketball programs in the state of Utah. Currently, the Rams are ranked in the top 5 in both 5A and statewide. It might not be a stretch to say that after this year Highland could be considered a dynasty, especially if they complete the postseason by earning a ring.
Put that on top of three straight deep playoff runs, and it’s clear the Rams have become a basketball power. Boasting some of the best talent and coaching in the state, there is no shortage of competition amongst the team for playing time, which can be hard to find on a team with this resume.
The NBA gives out an award every year called the “Sixth Man of the Year”. The award recognizes whoever the NBA deems the most valuable player not in a starting five. Most recipients could likely be a starter on other teams but accept the role as a backup on their current team.
A common theme amongst the best sixth men is that their teams are among the best. This is because depth is a major factor in building a good team. The starting five can’t play their peak level basketball for a full four quarters. If a coach can get a player on contract that can fill in for a star and be just as good as a starter, all of the sudden a team can have five big-time contributors on the court at all times.
This all begs the question: on a team as good as Highland’s, who is the sixth man?
Or rather, sixth men?
Seniors Ben Richards and Elam Zollinger are typically the first guys who get called off the bench to replace the starters, and they make the absolute most of the time they get on the court. They are the only two non-starters to play in every game this season.
“It means a lot,” Richards said. “I just want to get in the game and give it all my energy and do whatever the team needs me to.”
It’s not hard to see that one of the best parts of Zollinger and Richards’ game is their hustle. It is one of the reasons their coaches trust them enough to get the number of minutes that they do.
“The depth of this team is crazy because your bench guys being able to guard and score is very important,” Zollinger said. “I feel like that’s why we are so good; we never lack talent on the floor.”
Depth will be one of the deciding factors to see how far this team will go during the rest of the regular season and the postseason. Once Highland gets deeper into the postseason, every team will have a strong starting five. The difference could be who has the best depth coming off the bench. And that is where Highland hopes to have an advantage.
“Everyone is eager to go in. When they do get put in, having that depth that we have, we can all make an extra play and an extra effort,” Richards said. “All the sudden, guys are going in with more energy.”
There is plenty of fame and fortune that comes with being the first guys off the bench. They’re getting the chance to contribute to the team, get some film, get some unexpected praise, and much more. That’s when the drawback comes: the more the fans and coaches see them on the court, the more pressure that comes to perform as if they have been the starter all season.
“It’s tricky because sometimes you’re only in there for a couple minutes, and you don’t get a chance to get into a flow. You kind of have to be instant energy,” Highland head coach Chris Jones said. “When your minutes are limited, there is not a lot of margin for error. It’s a hard role because you’re only going to be in there for a few minutes at a time and our guys do.”
Although it comes with the struggles, the boys don’t think anything other than just going in and putting their best foot forward on behalf of the team.
“It’s just a standard that we are all held to. It’s that we’re all great players and when we go in we’re going to play Highland basketball,” Richards said. “It doesn’t matter where you are on the depth chart, the standard is from bottom to top.”
It would be an understatement to say that these boys know their roles, and it’s not just the sixth men, it’s everyone on the team. The culture the team has built to rely on one another and trust that everyone can make plays is a key that will open the Pandora’s Box that is the Rams high hopes for the culmination of this season.
“The pressure of having to play like a starter is more the pressure I put on myself to just keep helping the team win,” Zollinger said.
But coming off the bench requires an unselfish attitude. Everyone likes to hear their names when lineups are introduced. But only five get that honor a night.
If Richards and Zollinger are contributors on a title-contending team, and have the pressure of playing like a starter, it would make sense for them to feed into the frenzy that is the high school “transfer portal” and go to a school where they could be the star of the show. Few people would blame them for wanting to be on a team where they can give their talents a full extent of starting minutes.
But for these boys, this is anything but the case.
“What’s keeping me from leaving? Eligibility,” Richards joked. “But in all honesty, I love this team. We’ve got a ton of great players, and one of our strengths is that everyone just knows their role. We all always have that goal of a championship.”
Zollinger’s response was more of the same.
“Yes, this team is elite, but I think what keeps me from leaving is that I love this team,” Zollinger said. “I am still capable of making winning plays being one of the first guys off the bench, and I just can’t picture myself anywhere else.”
Richards and Zollinger are just the tip of the spear for a stacked Highland bench that could start at most other schools.
“Sometimes when you’re going through a hole for a minute or two in game those guys can come in, they bring a different energy and a new juice.” Jones said, “We have about four or five guys play off the bench, not a lot, but they get to play and they have all had great moments this year.”
A good example would be former Highland basketball player Bo Donelson who played zero minutes for the Rams, and since transferring to Brighton for his junior season, has been a starter all year.
The necessity of depth was proved when the Rams went to Woods Cross on Feb. 2. Highland was down starters Grady Lee and Soren Ries when they had to take the court and that messed with the rotation of players. In the first matchup, Highland cruised to an easy 64-48 win. The Wildcats are a gritty team though, and any team in the region is capable of an occasional upset, which ended up being the case when the Wildcats got their revenge at home with their own 64-48 victory. With Richards and Zollinger having to step into a starting role, the Rams had to go deeper into the depth of the team and that ended up being too difficult to overcome.
It goes without saying that when Jones, Richards, and Zollinger praise the team for everyone knowing what needs to be done to win, they’re not lying. As they provide the example for the rest of the bench contributors and younger classmen that may be in the same boat, they make the Rams one step closer to a dominating winning culture and one step closer to bringing home the hardware from the 2026 state tournament.
